Tricycle Magazine quote - weird

[t-bob]

What Is Renunciation?

Renunciation isn’t about taking monastic vows or exchanging your Tempur-Pedic mattress for a pallet; it’s about the wisdom to realize that holding on to anything impermanent only brings sorrow.

—Joan Duncan Oliver, “Pocket Paramis: Renunciation, Nekkhamma”

[Marshall]

I had a tricycle. (A recumbent cycle). Only brought me sorrow.. . ,

(Well, maybe not "sorrow." But I didn't like it and sold it).

[Cornflake]

"Renunciation isn’t about taking monastic vows or exchanging your Tempur-Pedic mattress for a pallet; it’s about the wisdom to realize that holding on to anything impermanent only brings sorrow."

Sounds about right.

[epaul]

Well, what can you hold on to that is permanent? A rock? Nope, not permanent. So, don't hold on to anything? That sounds nuts. Sure to lead to sorrow.

[epaul]

Renunciation is a concept adored and promulgated by the Moonies and a wide assortment of cults, including the Catholic Church. Don't hold on to your stuff. Give it us and we'll take up the burden of holding on to it for you.

[Cornflake]

Well, there are some more benign examples, epaul. According to Matthew, Jesus said "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I think it's the same basic concept and it appears in other religious traditions as well. I'd cite a secular version but I can't think of one offhand. There probably are some.

[jdd2]

An example of collective renunciation might be the pandemic. Not particularly good for such a heavily consumer-based economy.

[Jawbone]

Is holding on to my mind an impermeant?
I thought so, so I let the mind go (but I waited until I was 73, a tad too late to feel the full impact of letting everything go). And now I have no sorrow that I did what I did. I'm loving it all.
Did I tell you, I've been studying the Bible now for two years?


I like stuff. I hold on to it as long as it's useful in this world. But I don't intend to keep it with me.

I also know where the dump is when shit don't work.

[aquaduct]

Oct 16, 2021 15:54:53 GMT -5 epaul said:

Renunciation is a concept adored and promulgated by the Moonies and a wide assortment of cults, including the Catholic Church. Don't hold on to your stuff. Give it us and we'll take up the burden of holding on to it for you.

I remember that Catholic Church bullshit from my evangelical Protestant days.

It's still bullshit all this time later.

[t-bob]

Ancient Citizen - Aquaduct

"I remember that Catholic Church bullshit from my evangelical Protestant days.

It's still bullshit all this time later."

Did you eat it?

Did you just smell it?

Some of your bullshit writing?

((It's a little odd humor and it's not negative))

[TKennedy]

The ultimate non-renounceator courtesy of Carl Barks-

[aquaduct]

Oct 16, 2021 21:46:43 GMT -5 t-bob said:

Ancient Citizen - Aquaduct

"I remember that Catholic Church bullshit from my evangelical Protestant days.

It's still bullshit all this time later."

Did you eat it?

Did you just smell it?

Some of your bullshit writing?

((It's a little odd humor and it's not negative))

No, actually lived it. Another example of coming to profound knowledge through not so pleasant experience. I think I could still detail the conversion process that eliminated almost instantly our church music careers when folks stopped even talking to us about our heresy.

[millring]

"We only have these times we're living in." -Kate Wolf

[millring]

Oct 16, 2021 15:51:14 GMT -5 epaul said:

Well, what can you hold on to that is permanent? A rock? Nope, not permanent. So, don't hold on to anything? That sounds nuts. Sure to lead to sorrow.

On that level it's nuts. Or, at least it sounds nuts.

But it's saying the same thing that the environmentalists are saying. That is: It's suggesting the wisdom of giving up current comfort (my beef with it is that "comfort" is a change of subject for 90% of the world, but that's a topic for another day) for the sake of making the world more permanent. Some say we do that for our children. Some say we do it for the animals.

Some say we do it for a God who demands it of us, though we will have no eventual gain from the sacrifice. That's the position (more or less) of the mainline denomination Christians (for instance, my cousin is the Episcopal Bishop of North Carolina. He doesn't believe in an afterlife) and even the new Evangelicals. Since they share the theology/philosophy of an impermanent life (they've rejected the idea of an afterlife), we do this sacrifice for a God who nevertheless wants his creation to last. It's confusing, I admit. I don't get it. But on some level it's admirable to do something for a greater "good" that will reap you absolutely no reward, so there's that.

Me, I'm not a good enough person to presume any reward/punishment for my acts renunciation. But I do at least acknowledge the inherent wisdom of delayed or deferred gratification.

[drlj]

I am not permanent but I am still holding on.

[TKennedy]

From an article on the 42nd anniversary of The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy.

For Amit Oz, a chef in Hong Kong, the book helped him when he moved from Israel to China when he was young.

"The fact that life is just an adventure and the goal is to have fun. You're there to make the most of what's around you and be a good person while you do it," Oz says. "And I think that's grounding when your world is becoming an adventure."

[james]

Here's Ms Oliver's full article in which she explains her Buddhist perspective a bit.

tricycle.org/magazine/renunciation-buddhism/

[Cornflake]

Interesting, James. Thanks.